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Courant bureau chief paid by government
By Don Michak, Journal Inquirer
09/18/2006
David Lightman, the Washington, D.C., bureau chief for the Hartford Courant, has agreed to no longer appear on Voice of America broadcasts following the disclosure that he and other journalists were paid by the U.S. government.
Courant Editor Clifford Teutsch, in a story published by the newspaper Saturday, said the arrangement under which Lightman was paid $100 each time he appeared on a weekly Voice of America show "can certainly be seen as a conflict, and that's why we're stopping it."
Teutsch said he wanted to end Lightman's participation, which he said had been approved several years ago, rather than "to allow any question of a conflict to continue."
The government's payments to Lightman were revealed Saturday by El Nuevo Herald, a Spanish-language newspaper that is owned by the Miami Herald but run independently.
It reported that nationally and internationally known journalists have "for many, many years" received government payments for appearances on Voice of America radio programs.
Others the newspaper said had acknowledged payments from Voice of America programs included Tom M. DeFrank, head of the New York Daily News Washington office; Helle Dale, a former director of the opinion pages of the Washington Times; and Georgie Anne Geyer, a nationally syndicated columnist.
Lightman, who said he occasionally participated in the Voice of America program "Issues in the News," defended his taking of the government payments, the newspaper reported.
"I do not cover the State Department or the Pentagon or any government agency," he said. "Second, they pay me very little, and they pay me because I am a professional and they remunerate me for my time. In general, I do not cover the tops we're talking about."
But Miami Herald Executive Editor Tom Fielder said that accepting such payments was not a common practice and violates widely accepted standards of journalistic ethics.
"I was surprised at the Hartford Courant's Washington bureau chief because he clearly is in a position to assign reporters to cover stories about Washington, to cover the very government he is taking payments from," he said. "That is exactly why this practice is frowned upon by journalists and journalism ethicists."
The El Nuevo Herald report followed a story previously published by the Miami Herald, which cited "at least 10" south Florida journalists who had been paid regularly by the government to participate in programs on Radio and TV Marti, government sponsored entities which broadcast anti-Castro programs to Cuba.
Three of those cited in that story were El Nuevo Herald journalists: Pablo Alfonso, who wrote an opinion column and covered Cuba and was paid almost $175,000; Wilfredo Cancio, who covered the Cuban exile community and politics and was paid almost $15,000; and Olga Connor, a freelance reporter who wrote about Cuban culture and was paid about $71,000.
Alfonso and Cancio were dismissed and Connor's relationship with the Herald was terminated, the newspaper said.
Carl Hiassen, the best-selling novelist who is also a Miami Herald columnist, said in a piece published Sunday that the government-run Radio and TV Marti were "a charity for needy journalists," and suggested that financial opportunities abound "thanks to the Bush administration's Outreach Initiative for Ethically Muddled Reporters."
He also weighted in on El Nuevo Herald's report about the payments to Lightman and others.
"These folks are probably in hot water today because of people like my boss, who cling to this old-fashioned notion that the mere appearance of sliding into bed with the institutions we cover is intolerable," he wrote.
By Don Michak, Journal Inquirer
09/18/2006
David Lightman, the Washington, D.C., bureau chief for the Hartford Courant, has agreed to no longer appear on Voice of America broadcasts following the disclosure that he and other journalists were paid by the U.S. government.
Courant Editor Clifford Teutsch, in a story published by the newspaper Saturday, said the arrangement under which Lightman was paid $100 each time he appeared on a weekly Voice of America show "can certainly be seen as a conflict, and that's why we're stopping it."
Teutsch said he wanted to end Lightman's participation, which he said had been approved several years ago, rather than "to allow any question of a conflict to continue."
The government's payments to Lightman were revealed Saturday by El Nuevo Herald, a Spanish-language newspaper that is owned by the Miami Herald but run independently.
It reported that nationally and internationally known journalists have "for many, many years" received government payments for appearances on Voice of America radio programs.
Others the newspaper said had acknowledged payments from Voice of America programs included Tom M. DeFrank, head of the New York Daily News Washington office; Helle Dale, a former director of the opinion pages of the Washington Times; and Georgie Anne Geyer, a nationally syndicated columnist.
Lightman, who said he occasionally participated in the Voice of America program "Issues in the News," defended his taking of the government payments, the newspaper reported.
"I do not cover the State Department or the Pentagon or any government agency," he said. "Second, they pay me very little, and they pay me because I am a professional and they remunerate me for my time. In general, I do not cover the tops we're talking about."
But Miami Herald Executive Editor Tom Fielder said that accepting such payments was not a common practice and violates widely accepted standards of journalistic ethics.
"I was surprised at the Hartford Courant's Washington bureau chief because he clearly is in a position to assign reporters to cover stories about Washington, to cover the very government he is taking payments from," he said. "That is exactly why this practice is frowned upon by journalists and journalism ethicists."
The El Nuevo Herald report followed a story previously published by the Miami Herald, which cited "at least 10" south Florida journalists who had been paid regularly by the government to participate in programs on Radio and TV Marti, government sponsored entities which broadcast anti-Castro programs to Cuba.
Three of those cited in that story were El Nuevo Herald journalists: Pablo Alfonso, who wrote an opinion column and covered Cuba and was paid almost $175,000; Wilfredo Cancio, who covered the Cuban exile community and politics and was paid almost $15,000; and Olga Connor, a freelance reporter who wrote about Cuban culture and was paid about $71,000.
Alfonso and Cancio were dismissed and Connor's relationship with the Herald was terminated, the newspaper said.
Carl Hiassen, the best-selling novelist who is also a Miami Herald columnist, said in a piece published Sunday that the government-run Radio and TV Marti were "a charity for needy journalists," and suggested that financial opportunities abound "thanks to the Bush administration's Outreach Initiative for Ethically Muddled Reporters."
He also weighted in on El Nuevo Herald's report about the payments to Lightman and others.
"These folks are probably in hot water today because of people like my boss, who cling to this old-fashioned notion that the mere appearance of sliding into bed with the institutions we cover is intolerable," he wrote.